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Your 2018 Property Round up for the Lancaster and Morecambe Housing Market

I have never truly understood New Years. Why people make resolutions for a new year? I’ve always believed why put off what you can do today. Why plan change only on January 1st? It’s all mighty odd to me! It’s been explained to me that people see it as hope. Hope for something better. Change of some type. Many people decide in the New Year to move house.

Sometimes is due to new relationships. For others, it coincides with a new job. Many new first time buyers flock to the market having decided to leave home. Older clients will put their home for sale with plans to physically move in the spring as the weather gets better. It all starts to happen in January!

2018 has been a superb year for us and if I’m honest my hope and plan for 2019 are that it continues. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t as even December has been strong on sales and let’s! Sure there will be obstacles in the way – Brexit for one, but each year brings new challenges and I truly believe – we all have to live somewhere!

Normally I report what happened last month, however this time I want to look at the year as a whole and look at both Lancaster and Morecambe in one easy to read report.

How many homes sold in 2019?

For the purpose of this report – we have looked at Lancaster ( LA1 ) and Morecambe ( LA3 and LA4 ). In Lancaster, there were 838 property sales. In Morecambe, there were 899. Does it come as a surprise to you that in Morecambe there were 7% more sales? The bay gateway really has started to make a difference to Morecambe and with Morecambe’s future plans – it does look like it could be a brighter future around the bay!

The busiest month in the Lancaster and Housing Market was April with 190 property sales Spring really is a time when those buyers jump into action. August wasn’t that far behind though with 185 sales. This dispels the myth that the housing market goes quieter during the school holidays. The quietest month of the year was December – although a respectable 117 homes went under offer.

Where were the most expensive property sales?

The 3 most expensive homes to sell in Lancaster and Morecambe were all in Lancaster. Interestingly all 3 were in LA1 5 and all three were sold by us! These 3 properties were – The Water House, Haverbreaks. Westbourne Road, Fairfield and Westbourne Drive, Fairfield. All were priced between £700,000 – £800,000.

Where the cheapest property sales?

The cheapest property to sell was on Townley Street in Morecambe and was marketed at just £7,500 and sold at auction. Next was a Park home for just £12,000 ( sold by ourselves ) followed by a 3 bed flat in the West End which was just advertised with a guide price of just £15,000. All 3 properties needed work and all 3 were in Morecambe.

What happened to houses prices in the area?

When you look at the sold prices in 2018 we are in a stable market. A stable market is good, let us all hope it continues through 2019. In Morecambe, the average sold price stands at £144,178 and the annual growth was just 0.49%. In Lancaster, it was higher at £192,758. The annual growth was just 3.54%.

What was the most popular property type?

The most popular property type to sell was the terrace home with 542 sales, followed by the semi-detached with 444 sales. Surprisingly only 16 Park Homes sold – all were in the Morecambe area – 25% of which were sold by ourselves!

3-bed homes are still the most popular. In 2018, 708 homes with 3 bedrooms sold. Interestingly homes which had 5 beds or more struggled. There just 90 in total across the area.

In 2018 there were 3009 new instructions across Lancaster and Morecambe. In total 1738 homes sold – just 57%. 1313 properties reduced their asking price.

2019 is looking positive. It’s been a great start for us with already over 60 viewings booked in just 3 days. To give you an example a home in Freehold has already got 6 viewings booked in and another in Heysham which was just new to the market this year has 8 viewings booked in. If you want to see what is selling, check out our facebook page. We believe in transparency and we post the sales as they happen. The buyers are out there.

If you are thinking of moving in 2019, please get in touch. My name is Michelle Gallagher. At JDG we are here to help you get the price for your home! Call us on 01524 843322 or email me at michelle@jdg.co.uk